Benefits
OSCQR Program-Level Certification provides institutions with a recognized framework for developing, documenting, and sustaining online course quality improvement practices aligned with the OSCQR rubric, process, and certification standards.
Benefits include:
External Validation of Institutional Quality Practices
Program-level certification provides formal recognition that an institution’s online course quality initiative is aligned with established OSCQR standards and SUNY Online’s recognized practices for online course review, faculty development, and continuous improvement.
A Structured Framework for Continuous Improvement
Certification helps institutions move from informal or ad hoc course review practices to a systematic, repeatable, and sustainable model for online course quality assurance, review, refresh, and improvement.
Strengthened Faculty Development
The certification process supports faculty preparedness by providing a clear structure for OSCQR-aligned self-assessment, course refresh, action planning, and professional development focused on effective and accessible online teaching and learning.
Development of Reviewer and Trainer Capacity
Program-level certification helps institutions build internal capacity by supporting preparation pathways for faculty peer reviewers, instructional designers, and trainers who facilitate online course quality review and improvement activities.
Alignment with OSCQR Certifications
Certified programs can align local training and review activities with SUNY Online OSCQR Self-Assessment, Reviewer, and Trainer certification standards, creating clearer pathways for faculty, instructional designers, reviewers, and trainers to earn individual recognition.
Improved Online Course Quality and Accessibility
By using OSCQR as a guiding framework, institutions can support more consistent, accessible, learner-centered, and effective online course design across courses, programs, departments, and delivery models.
Documentation of Course Review and Refresh Outcomes
Program-level certification supports the development of documented evidence, including course self-assessments, peer reviews, action plans, implemented improvements, participant feedback, and program outcomes.
Support for Accreditation and Institutional Effectiveness
OSCQR Program-Level Certification can help institutions document systematic efforts related to online course quality, accessibility, faculty development, educational effectiveness, continuous improvement, and institutional planning. The certification process can provide useful evidence of structured course review, faculty engagement, action planning, course improvement, and ongoing quality assurance practices.
For institutions accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, OSCQR Program-Level Certification may support documentation and evidence related to several MSCHE Standards for Accreditation, including:
- Standard II: Ethics and Integrity
Supports institutional commitments to accessibility, equity, transparency, and inclusive online learning environments by helping institutions apply consistent course design and accessibility review practices. - Standard III: Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience
Provides a systematic process for strengthening the design and delivery of online courses, including instructional organization, learner engagement, interaction, accessibility, regular and substantive interaction, assessment alignment, and learner support. - Standard V: Educational Effectiveness Assessment
Supports documentation of continuous improvement through course self-assessments, peer reviews, action plans, implemented course enhancements, participant feedback, and evidence of improvement over time. - Standard VI: Planning, Resources, and Institutional Improvement
Demonstrates intentional planning and sustained institutional support for online course quality, faculty development, reviewer/trainer capacity-building, scalable implementation, and ongoing program refinement.
Participation in OSCQR Program-Level Certification can therefore provide clear, organized evidence of an institution’s efforts to ensure the quality, accessibility, consistency, and continuous improvement of online learning. It does not replace institutional accreditation processes, but it can strengthen the documentation institutions use to demonstrate alignment with accreditation expectations.
Support for SUNY Online Institutional Readiness and SUNY Online+ Signature Elements
For SUNY campuses, OSCQR Program-Level Certification can help fill gaps identified through the SUNY Online Institutional Readiness process by focusing specifically on online course quality, course refresh, faculty development, reviewer/trainer preparation, and continuous improvement.
The SUNY Online Institutional Readiness process helps campus leadership teams assess the policies, practices, infrastructure, and supports needed to deliver high-quality online-enabled learning experiences. OSCQR Program-Level Certification complements that process by providing a structured approach to implementing and documenting online course quality practices aligned with the OSCQR rubric, process, and certification standards.
For SUNY Campuses seeking SUNY Online+ program designation, the OSCQR Program-Level Certification also supports alignment with several of the SUNY Online+ Signature Elements, including:
Student Support
- Supports engaging discipline and career-related learning experiences by helping campuses establish a systematic process to keep online courses refreshed in relation to discipline, field, workforce, and career-related trends.
Faculty Support
- Supports comprehensive faculty development and support for quality online course design, development, delivery, and evaluation.
- Provides a course development and refresh process grounded in instructional design standards.
- Uses rubrics, tools, training materials, and review processes to support the development and refresh of high-quality online courses.
- Supports course design practices aligned with accessibility, Universal Design for Learning, and SUNY’s Electronic Information Technology accessibility expectations.
Program Support
- Supports assessment of program effectiveness and continuous quality improvement by helping campuses document course review processes, action plans, course improvements, and implementation outcomes.
- Supports attention to the alignment of course learning outcomes with program objectives and institutional or school learning outcomes, where appropriate within the campus’s local review and refresh process.
By connecting OSCQR Program-Level Certification to SUNY Online Institutional Readiness and SUNY Online+ Signature Elements, campuses can demonstrate that their online course quality work is not an isolated activity, but part of a broader institutional strategy for supporting students, faculty, programs, and continuous improvement in online learning.
Scalable and Sustainable Quality Assurance Infrastructure
Certification helps institutions design a model that can grow over time, support recurring cohorts, build reviewer capacity, and sustain online course quality practices beyond a single course, instructor, or project.
Greater Consistency Across Online Courses
Certified programs can help institutions promote more consistent expectations for online course design, learner support, accessibility, interaction, engagement, assessment, and instructional organization.
Support for Institutional Goals
OSCQR Program-Level Certification can support institutional priorities related to learner success, retention, completion, online program quality, accessibility, instructional consistency, faculty support, and academic innovation.
Collaborative Consultation and Expert Feedback
Participating institutions receive feedback, recommendations, and consultation from SUNY Online Teaching to help strengthen their local materials, implementation processes, certification pathways, and continuous improvement practices.
Recognition of Institutional Commitment
Program-level certification signals that the institution has made a formal commitment to online course quality, accessibility, faculty preparedness, and continuous improvement using an established and research-informed framework.